Three men's teams and two women's teams from the NSIC were named to the NCAA Division II tournament field on Sunday.
Five NSIC basketball teams make NCAA Division II tournament fields
March 8, 2021 at 5:17AM
In the men's bracket, Northern State (18-1) is one of eight No. 1 seeds and will play host to the Central Regional in Aberdeen, S.D. NSIC men's tournament runner-up Minnesota State Moorhead (10-4) and Wayne State (11-6) will also compete in the Central Regional.
Wayne State, the No. 4 seed, and MSU Moorhead, the No. 5 seed, will meet in the first round on Saturday. The winner will meet Northern State. The other seeds are No. 2 Northwest Missouri State, No. 3 Washburn and No. 6 Missouri Western.
NSIC women's tournament champion Minnesota Duluth and tournament runner-up St. Cloud State will play in the Central Regional in Warrensburg, Mo. The Bulldogs (13-1), the No. 3 seed, will play No. 6 seed Emporia State in the first round on Friday.
St. Cloud State (12-5), the No. 5 seed, will play No. 4 seed and region host Central Missouri (19-4) on Friday.
The UMD/Emporia State winner will play No. 2 seed Nebraska-Kearney while the St. Cloud State/Central Missouri winner will play No. 1 seed Fort Hays State on Saturday.
The field was reduced to 48 teams this year from 64 because several conferences chose not to compete in 2020-21. Regional sites were predetermined because of COVID-19 considerations.
JOEL RIPPEL
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Two offensive linemen from Lakeville, Bryce Benhart and Riley Mahlman, are standouts for Big Ten rivals of Minnesota.
